Baked Rice Chakli 'n' An Amazing Vacation.....

Baked Rice Chakli

Rice Chakli...you know sometimes the most odd coincidences happen...for quite a while my Mom was talking about making chakli at home ( we used to do it together when we were both younger, me a teen and hence quite enthu about all new & interesting cooking )....but now doing it on my own just did not appeal and I kept putting it off...

And this is where the odd coincidence comes in...

I was on vacation in US - visiting my sister-in-law To and her husband A, had an amazing time with them ( have to thank them once again..had a lot of fun.. )...met up with most of our family there especially those on the East Coast, visited Boston...had a great time with our family who live there....attended a birthday party, awesome cake, birthday girl's current favorite...'Elsa', the princess from the Disney movie "Frozen"...

.... visited New York...shows and sightseeing...Bill Cosby show, the Radio City Rockettes...Central Park one of my favourite haunts, and also took in the new sights...the newly opened World Trade Centre...and the 9/11 memorial...

Central Park

World Trade Centre

9/11 Memorial

Atlantic City Caesars Casino

..visited New Jersey, our old home, our old haunts...with some friends who stay there...Outlet malls, Atlantic City...shopping & eating out...and visited the new Swaminarayan Temple at NJ...thanks guys A&L&kids....

Swaminarayan Temple in NJ

...met up with another old friend & her family...late night movie (Happy New Year), shopping, taking her dog to the park...Minnie...such a darling....had a great time thanks to G...& her family...

all in all an awesome month of pure relaxation & enjoyment.

Have posted some pictures of New York and some of the colors of fall...have taken so many it is difficult to decide on which to post....

Fall colors in Allentown, PA

I think the month I visited was the best season out there...I love the  fall season in the East Coast of US...the colors were fantastic...could not stop clicking...

Anyways coming back to the main purpose of this blog, :-) ...the rice chakli, my visit was around Diwali time and the weekend around Diwali was set for our Diwali party with some of our family & friends

 My sis-in-law To happened to mention that a friend had given her a recipe to make chakli with sour cream or yogurt ( curds )...and the best part was that it was baked not fried...

We immediately got the necessary ingredients...and though it did not get done in time for our Diwali party - we did manage to make it the following week...and it turned out really great...

So decided it had to get down in my blog...this was a really simple recipe and the results quite awesome...good for a light anytime snack...and healthy too...if baked...you could fry it if you prefer it that way.

And here's the recipe...

Ingredients:

1 cup rice flour

1/2 cup curds(yogurt)  (we used sour cream)

2 tsp sesame seeds

1 tsp chilli powder

1/8 tsp turmeric powder ( haldi )

1 tsp oil

Salt to taste (used 1 tsp)

Oil for deep frying (if baking then not required)

Also used 1 tsp cumin (jeera) (this was optional)

1) Pre-heat oven to 335 F or 170 C.

2) Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, mix well, then add sour cream, mix and then add little water, oil and knead into a stiff dough.

3) Keep aside for an hour, then put mixture into chakli press & press out round whirls of the dough onto greased baking trays, working closely from centre to outside to the whirl (approx. 2" diameter)

4) Bake on one side for abt 15 mins...then flip & bake for another 10 mins...these times are an approx...you need to check on the chaklis to see that it does not burn...

5) Once done remove on plate...cool..then store in airtight container. 

I took some over to my friends place and they loved it too...so try it out and let me know how you liked it...have to say a thanks to my sil To & her friend..it introduced me to a new & simple recipe...now I do not have any excuse to not make it for my Mom :-) .......

Time to go grocery shopping now ...right ?!  .... :-)